Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

To understand just how important so-called "super PACs" have become, consider this: The super PAC backing Newt Gingrich raised more than $5 million more in January than what was raised by Gingrich's own campaign.

The fact that super PACs are getting bigger than the campaigns they're there to support is a big deal - particularly when the super PACs are funded in large part by one or two large donors. In Gingrich's case, that donor is Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who (along with his wife) gave Gingrich's super PAC $10 million of the $11 million it raised in January.

Adelson's largess powered advertising on Gingrich's behalf in key states and allowed the candidate to focus his own resources on the nuts and bolts of campaigning. It's an open question whether Gingrich would still be in the race had Adelson not opened his checkbook.

Gingrich is not alone: Mitt Romney's campaign ended January with less than $8 million in cash on hand. The super PAC backing him has $16.3 million, according to FEC reports.

In the super PAC age, there are no limits on how much a well-heeled individual can spend to get a candidate elected (or defeated). Click through to meet some of the notable people who are spending big to influence elections past and future - a group that includes at least 21 billionaires - in order of how much they've given in this campaign cycle.

Adelson told Forbes he is "against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections... But as long as it's doable I'm going to do it." He said that unlike some other wealthy men, he doesn't hide his contributions behind corporations.

Adelson, whose wife hails from Israel, cites the protection of that country as a top concern, and Gingrich has said Adelson is supporting him because of Gingrich's position on Israel. Gingrich has taken a particularly strong stance on Middle East issues, among them calling Palestinians an "invented people" in an interview, and saying he supports Israel's right to undertake "an operation designed to dramatically slow down or disrupt the Iranian nuclear system."

Adelson's donations make up the vast majority of the money that has come into the pro-Gingrich's super PAC Winning our Future. Without his support, Gingrich may not have been able to win the South Carolina primary - or remain in the race as long as he has. Adelson says he expects to support whoever the Republican nominee is - unless it's Ron Paul, who has been criticized by Israel's supporters for opposing U.S. aid to Israel and other countries.

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

HAROLD SIMMONS

Dallas industrialist Harold Simmons, along with his company Contran Corporation, has contributed $12 million to the Karl Rove-founded American Crossroads super PAC since the start of last year. American Crossroads, unlike most of the super PACs discussed here, does not back a specific candidate; its focus is simply on getting Republicans elected to office.

In 2011, Simmons and Contran cumulatively gave American Crossroads $7 million. He contributed another $5 million to the group in January - almost all of its total revenue.

That $5 million haul isn't the only contribution the 80-year-old Republican made in January. Simmons also gave $100,000 to Restore Our Future, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, and $500,000 to the pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future.

In February, Simmons gave $100,000 to both the pro-Romney and pro-Gingrich super PACs, while his wife, Annette, donated $1 million to the pro-Santorum Red White and Blue Fund. The Simmons total giving to super PACs this cycle has now reached $15.4 million.

The 80-year-old Republican, who was ranked 33 on Forbes' September 2011 list of the 400 richest Americans, is worth an estimated $9.3 billion dollars. He rarely gives interviews but is a prolific political giver: He was a major backer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, which questioned former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's record as a Vietnam veteran. In 2008, Simmons contributed the maximum amount to John McCain's unsuccessful presidential bid, and was a bundler for McCain's campaign.

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

This is a Dec. 10, 2002 file photo of Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, posing at the sales center at one of his Houston developments. Perry is the nation's most generous individual political donor. He has been a leading advocate of laws to limit court awards against businesses and he is a financial benefactor to politicians and judges. He has donated more than $340,000 to the nine justices that will hear a case brought against his company by Bob and Jane Cull of Mansfield, Texas.
Melissa Phillip,AP Photo/Houston Chronicle

BOB PERRY

Texas homebuilder Bob Perry has given $4 million to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore our Future - more than any other donor - and $2.5 million to American Crossroads, which is focused on getting Republicans elected across the board. He also gave $100,000 to the super PAC backing former GOP presidential candidate and Texas governor Rick Perry. He ranks third among super PAC donors in the 2012 cycle, having given $6.6 million so far.

Perry, who avoids media attention, gave $3 million to the pro-Romney super PAC in February. He is a longtime donor to GOP causes, having given $7 million to American Crossroads in 2010 and several million dollars to launch Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attack Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam service record in the 2004 campaign cycle.

Perry is also among the more than 14,000 people who have given the legal maximum, $2,500, to Romney's primary campaign.

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 12: Founders Fund Managing Partner Peter Thiel speaks onstage at Day 1 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2011 held at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse on September 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
Araya Diaz/Getty Images for TechCrunch

PETER THIEL

Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who has given a total $2.6 million to the pro-Ron Paul super PAC Endorse Liberty, has long been outspoken about his Libertarian beliefs. The gay, 44-year-old Paypal founder and Facebook investor, one of the youngest billionaires in America, worth $1.5 billion according to Forbes magazine, believes there is an education bubble in the United States, and has financed a fellowship program to support people under 20 who drop out of college to launch their own startups.

Thiel isn't necessarily focused on getting Paul elected, but rather on building a movement. "The campaign really is for 2016," he told Slate. "I think we're just trying to build a libertarian base for the next cycle."

Thiel's personal philosophy is perhaps best encapsulated by his position on "the seat belt question," as he put it in a New Yorker profile last year. "The pro-seat-belt argument is that it's safer, and the anti-seat-belt argument is that if you know that it's not as safe you'll be a more careful driver," he said. "Empirically, it's actually the safest if you wear a seat belt and are careful at the same time, so I'm not even going to try to debate this point."

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 06: Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks, attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 6, 2011 in Sun Valley, Idaho. The conference has been hosted annually by the investment firm Allen & Company each July since 1983. The conference is typically attended by many of the world's most powerful media executives.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

JEFFREY KATZENBERG

Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, last year gave $2 million to Priorities USA Action - the super PAC that President Obama recently (and reluctantly) embraced. Mr. Obama's decision to give his blessing to the super PAC, after previously opposing such outside spending groups, is attributable in part to the fact that it was having trouble continuing to attract deep-pocketed donors like Katzenberg; in January, the organization raised just $59,000.

The 61-year-old Katzenberg, a longtime Democratic donor who was born in New York City and lives in Beverly Hills, co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994; in a book tracking the tumultuous funding of the company, he is described as "the kind of always-on achievement junkie that Hollywood considered its own breed." Speilberg has also donated to Priorities USA Action, to the tune of $100,000; Israeli-American billionaire media executive Haim Saban, whose company produced Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, is now weighing donating to the group.

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

FOSTER FRIESS

Friess, who is worth an estimated $530 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, gave the super PAC backing Rick Santorum $331,000 in 2011 - more than 40 percent of the total money the super PAC raised last year. He has already given the Red White and Blue Fund more than $1 million more this year, with a total contributions to the pro-Santorum PAC reaching $1.6 million.

An evangelical Christian who made his money managing investments, the 71-year-old Wyoming native has donated money to conservative candidates, right-leaning media outlets, and relief efforts in Haiti and New Orleans. He has a penchant for jokes, including this one, delivered at a conservative conference this year at Mitt Romney's expense: "There's a little bar a couple doors down and recently a conservative, a liberal and a moderate walked into the bar. The bartender says, 'Hi Mitt!'"

However, Friess' joking has also got him in trouble. Earlier this month, he suggested that in his day, aspirin could be used for contraception, since "[t]he gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly." He later apologized, saying he had simply been making a bad joke.

BILL MAHER

The late-night talk show host and stand-up comedian announced in February that he is donating $1 million to the super PAC supporting President Obama, Priorities USA Action. Maher currently hosts "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, and previously hosted the talk show "Politically Incorrect" on ABC. Maher gave early exposure to failed 2010 Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, whose memorable comments on his shows prior to her political rise - including that she "dabbled in witchcraft" - were gleefully replayed by Maher during the 2010 election cycle.

Maher, who supports the legalization of marijuana, same-sex marriage and prostitution, has been critical of the president and Democratic Party but more often directs his ire at Republicans. An outspoken atheist, Maher starred in the 2008 documentary "Religulous," which mocked a variety of religions and religious individuals.

Maher came under fire in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for saying America has "been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly."

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 16: Investor George Soros attends the 'Too Big To Fail' New York Premiere after party at the Four Seasons Restaurant on May 16, 2011 in New York City.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

GEORGE SOROS

Soros, the 81-year-old Hungarian-American billionaire investor who has donated billions of dollars to a variety of mostly-liberal causes, describes himself as "a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes for more than 30 years." In 2004, he got involved in U.S. politics, spending more than $23 million in an effort to keep President George W. Bush from a second term; Soros described unseating Mr. Bush as "the central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death."

Soros was also one of the largest donors to either party in the 2008 election, giving $5 million to help President Obama's campaign. Yet he appears poised to sit this election out: The New Yorker reports this week the odds of Soros giving to a pro-Obama super PAC are no more than 10 percent, in part because he is concerned about the influence of shadowy money in politics that super PACs represent.

Another reason for Soros not to get involved: He doesn't seem to see much difference Mr. Obama, with whom Soros says he has been "slightly disappointed," and perhaps his most likely opponent, Mitt Romney. "If it's between Obama and Romney, there isn't all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them," he told Reuters. Soros appears to be more likely to get involved in the race if Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum is the nominee.

Meet the biggest donors of the 2012 campaign

OTHER NOTABLE NAMES

John Willard "Bill" Marriott, Jr. president and CEO of Marriott International, and his brother, Richard, both billionaires, have each given $500,000 to the super PAC backing Romney. The Mormon brothers are the sons of J.W. Marriott Sr., who started the Marriott hotel chain; they are also two of the twelve billionaires who have donated to the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore our Future.

A relative newcomer to political giving, Louisiana energy executive William Dore has $1.5 million to the super PAC backing Rick Santorum in 2012. Dore had not previously given to any politician but a Louisiana congressman.